Pocket typewriter



Aug. 20, 1929. l B, UNDERWQOD A 1,725231 v POCKET TYPEWRITER Filed Jan.6, 1928 2 sheetssneet 1 ,WITNESSES 10 A55 7L 55 j] 7l INVENTOR.

' MQM Aug. 2o, A1929.

F196 mi WITNESSES J. B, UNDERWOOD Patented Aug. 20, 1929.

UNITED STATES JOHN B. UNDERWOOD, oF GaAss VALLEY, CALIFORNIA.

POCKET '.ryriawiuran.

Application flied JanuaryG, 1928. 'Serial No. 244,882.`

My invention relates to improvements in typewriters with folding parts;and the obf jects of the invention are, first, to provlde a typewriterof such convenientl size, that it may be placed ina small case andcarrled in a pocket of a persons clothing; second, to vafford facilitiesfor its ready adjustment for` writing; and third, to provide that it maybe made to write on any suitable at 1o surface, such as the page of abook or sur face of a package;

One form of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in` which -Figure 1 is a plan view of the entire mai l5 chine, unfolded;Fig.v 2L an end elevation of the machine, unfolded; Fig. 3, a plan viewof fragment of the machine with obstructing parts removed to show theattachment of movable parts to the frame; Fig. 4, a vertical section of.the machine on the line 4 4,

Fig. 3; Fig. 5, a vertical section ofthe machine on thev line 5 5,'Fig.1; Fig. 6, a fragmentary perspective view showing the carriage forsupporting the keyboard; Fig. 7,

` a'fragmentary perspective view taken approximately between the lines577 and 5 5, Fig. 1f; and Fig. 8, a fragmentary perspective view of theguide rules on the line 8 8, Fig. 1. r

In-its operation, my machine diiers from that of the ty ewriter whichhas a movable carriage on which the sheet of paper, held in placeagainst a roller, is carried along j as the Writing proceeds, in thatthe body portion of my machine travels across the paper, or otherwriting surface, when the machine is being operated. Said body portion,A

which includes the keyboard, type bars, ribbon mechanism, and otherparts attached to 4o frame 10, (see Fig. 1), is caused to move, `ashereinafter described, across the writing surface over guide rule 11,which is held in alignment by margin rule 12. Margin rule 12 grips'theed e of the paper by means of strip 13, hinge thereto and kept incontact therewith, by the .weight of the machine resting upon the paper.It will be observed that the frictional contact of guide rule l1, tudmargin rule 12, with the surface of "5o .the paper, assist in holdin themachine in alignment. As the typist aces the machine ein a position foroperating the keyboard, with the paper attached as described, it will beseen that the margin rule is at his left. In order to place the machinein position to begin a line pf writing, he shoves the body portion ofthe machine, attached to frame 10, toward his left, causing it to passover margin rule'or line space rack bar 12 until said rule has reached aposition slightl to the left of frame 10 center line. (See igs.- 1 and7.) The lower face of frame 10 consistsV of two parallel plane surfacesmeeting in a perpendicular offset on a line 7 7', Fig. 1, shown indetail in Fig. 7. This makesl room for frame l10 to pass over marginrule 12.v

Guide rule or letter space-rack bar 11 is made with oset or groovededges sothat it will slide in ways 14, frame 10. (See Figsjli and 5.) Inthe upper surface of guide rule 11, is a rack of gear teeth 15, Fig.

v8. This rack engages pinion 16, (see Figs.

3 and 4), which is attached to shaft 17, said shaft carrying alsoratchet Wheel 18 and 75 spiral spring 19, as shown.l Spiral spring 19 issecured to shaft 17 near pinion 16, and to plate 20 which is attached toframe 10. Ratchet wheel 18 is engaged by pawl 21 and itscarry-ing arm22. lArm 22 may be caused 80 to Oscillate by downward movement ofuniversal bar 23, (which movement results when a letter key is pressedas hereinafter described), and the tension of spiral spring 24 when thepressure on bar 23 is released. Now, it will be seen that when the bodportion mounted on frame 10, is shoved back to the position for startinga line of writing, spring 19 is wound. In such condition spring 19 haspotential energy sufficient to propel, through pinion 16 and rack 15,the body portion of the machine along rule 11 to the right margin of thepaper. However,

such reverse motion is controlled by means of ratchet wheel 18, ratchetarm 22, and ratchet 2l, as hereinbefore described. When ratchet arm 22is caused to oscillate, the right hand movement referred to proceeds insteps, each step corresponding to a tooth in ratchet wheel 18, thecombination of parts being so proportioned that each step is of properlength for a letter space in the writing line. It is not deemednecessary to describe in detail the ratchet arm combination, for it ispractically the same as that used on many machines including typewritersin particular.I

The line shift, or means provided for shifting frame 10 to a 'new lineafter the line of writing has been'completed, is shown 110 separatepieces are shown in order to better illustrate the position of parts.)On the inner edge of margin r'ule 12 is a rack of gear teeth 28', whichengage the lowerl portion of wheel 28. Wheel 28.is a combination ratchetpinion having an upper portion provided with ratchet teeth and a lowerAportion with cogs or teeth designed to engage those'of rack 28. Boththecogs and the ratchet 'teeth are-so designed with blunted tips as torotate as a journal in circular "to permit said rule, -with its guides,to move 'cavity 29'.' Thiswheel is held in. place by screw 30, `the headof which also actsas a journal, as shown in Fig. 8. l Dog 31 fitted toslide in slot 32 and held in place by spring 33,"also engages the teethof rack 28f as shown. It is intended that spring 33 shall be of suchstrength as tohold rule 12 in place and' at the same time elastic enoughalong margin'rule 11, if greater force is applied than thatrequired tokeep the machine in alignment when writing. Dog 31 may be pressedagainst spring 33, and shoved over until its hooked portion engages thehooked portion of slot 32. In this position it is held away fromengaging rack 28', thus permitting mar in rule 12 to be easily slid orremoved. he rotation of wheel 28, which causes guide rule 11 to travela-long margin rule 12, is'eiiected by its ratchet portion which engagesdog 34, (shown only in Fig.v7) when' frame 10 is shoved back over marginrule 12, hereinbefore described.. The

'degree of rotation that wheel 28 will undergo, before the motion offrame 10 is arrested 3 whichv through by obstruction 7 7', will dependupon the o sition of dog 34. Dog 34 is secured tothe ower end of shaft35. (See Fig. 5.) At the upper'end-of shaft 35, pointer 36 is secured.(See also Fig.` 1.) Pointer 36 may be placed in any one of threepositions, connection with shaft 35, make it possi le to easily placedog 34 in a corresponding position. I dog 34 is placed in the positionshown in Fig. 7, it will engage wheel 28 early enough in the movement,cause its rotation of suiiicient degree', topropel rule 11, carryingframe 10, down the writing page a distance-of three lines of writing.But, if dog 34 is placed in the position indicated bythe dotted lines,it will effect only s'uiicientmotion to propel rule 11-down the writingpage a distance of two writing lines. The two line space is effected ban intermediate position Qf the pointer. d n case it is desired to shiftto a new line when the machine is Writing near .the center of the page,guide rule 12 may be pressedfirmly against the surface of the writingpage by one hand, and frame 10 forced up or down the page with theother. If the machine happens to be in a position in which wheel 28 isexposed to View, as in Fig. 1, said wheel may be rotated by means of thethumb or by use of a suitable wrench.

At this point it is convenient to call attention to strip 13, attachedby hingesv 37 to the lower'surface of rule 12. (See Figs. 7 and 8.) Thisis a very thin strip, which `with rule 12 forms.a pairof jaws to. securethe paper firmly. When the machine has 'reached the limit. of rule 12,the writing page carrying the machine may be slid over -on the table ordesk top, upon which it is laced, until rule 12 projects over the edge.l

trip 13, being thus released, drops open. While the operator holds the:machine firmly in placewith one hand, he may slide rule 12 further downthe pagewith the other, disengaging do 31 if necessary. The machine maythen e brought back on the table, and the-writing proceeded with asbefore. While this convenience requires only a short margin rule, themargin rule may be made long as the machine, since it may be 'easilyremoved when 'the machine is placed away in its case. When it is desiredto use the machine for writing o n a package, or for writing in a book,guiderule l2 may be held in place by the hand or by thumb tacks.

I will now describe the operation of the keys, type bars, ribbon shift,Aand other mechanism, making up the body portion of the maehinefandsecured to frame 10. A number of type bar's -38 38, arrangedfradially onthe arc of a circle, each carrying at its outer end a suitablelpiecev oftype, are made to hinge on shafts 39 and 40, (see Figs. 1, 3, and 5) sothat each of said type bars may be caused to impress its attached typeupon an inked ribbon against the writing surface at a point X, numbered41, said point being the center of a circle whose Aarc was referred to.Said type bars are operated through intermediatel bars 42, by key bars43 44, to which are attached keys labeled with letters of the alphabetand other characters, as shown. It will be seen that the arrangementwhich provides an individual type bar for each character desired, makesit possible for the machine to write on a flat surface, thus satisfyingan object oi' the machine. will disclose the compact arrangement ofparts, a feature which satisfies another object ofthe invention. Inorder to facilitate compactness, the type bars are so arranged that thetype rests in two rows on the arc shaped shelf. 45, as shown in Figs. 1and 5; This arrangement permits the type pieces to lie closely adjacentto one another, but requires two styles of type bars each .stylehaving'a separate shaft in order that the Reference to Fig; ,2,

type may be caused to strike the paper at a common point. Fig. 5, showsthese two It will be observed that type bars 38 38 terminate at theshaft end in the form of pinions or cog wheels,`the teeth 'of whichengage teeth at the ends of intermediate bars 42, which hinge on shaft46 as shown. Bars 46 are held in alignment by guides 47, attached toframe 10. Said bars tend to swing on shaft 46 in a clockwise directionbecause of springs 47 attached to shafts 48 and 49, as'shown. If one ofthe intermediate bars 42 is caused to swing on its shaft 46 against thetensionof its attached sgpring 47, it will cause its engaged type bar 3or 38 to swing on its shaft until the type of said bar strikes I' thelinked ribbon on the paper in a position shown lby the dotted lines. Ifnow the force tending to swing intermediate bar 46 inan anticlockwisedirection is released, spring 47 will draw said intermediate bar back toits previous position of rest on shelf 45.

By reference to Figs. 2 and 5, it will be seen that each key bar 43 44,is made to operate any one of three intermediate bars, depending on itslongitudinal position as ef-4 fected by the position of carriage 50 51(Fig. 6), to which all key bars are attached, the position of whichcarriage is controlled by shift keys 52 andtheir related mechanism, asshown -in Fig. 2. Figs. 2 and 5, show how bosses attached to the keybars engage the suitably hooked ends of intermediate bars 42. Ifcarriage 50 51, is forced outward it will cause key bars 43 44 todisengage one set of intermediate bars and to engage a different set ofintermediate bars; or if it is forced in the opposite direction it willcause said key bars to engage another set of intermediate bars. Themanner in .which intermediate bars 42 engage key bars 43 44 laterally,is shown in Fig. 1 by the breaking away of the characters Y7, and H ofthe key labels. The hooked end of an intermediate bar 42 is also clearlyshown by the one intermediate bar in Fig. 3.

The form of carriage 50 51 is shown in Fig. 6. It is really acombination of two carriages, one being carriage 50, attached to frame10 through slot 57 by means of screw 58, and the other, sub-carriage 51,being attached to carriage 50 through slot 59 by means of screw 60. Itmay be seen that this arrangement permits carriage 50, carryingsub-carriage 51, to be moved in and out on frame 10 tothe limit of slots57. This movement may be arrested at any one of three points, by meansof shiftin mechanism shown best in Figs. 1- and 2. Ao sets of paris',53, 55, 56,etc., are shown attached l to a common shaft 54, sothattheoperation of similar devics attached to'said shaft is simultaneous. If.one of the shift keys labeled FIG is pressed down, arm 53 carrying dog55 and sprin 56, is brought over to the position shown y the dottedlines in Fig. 2.v D urin this operation the free'end of dog 55, whicis-attached at its outer end to carriage 50 by. means of pin 50', and atits free end to arm 53 by means of a pin through a slot, as shown, liscaused to raise against sprin 56 and disengage the center slot of boss(which serves also to support the journal of. shaft54) and to engage thelast notch of said boss. The carriage is then in position to engage aset; of intermediate bars as previously ex lained.- Carriage 50 51 maybe brought back' to Athe position previously occupied, by pressing oneof the shift keys labeled CAP, or it may be brought further over to anew positlon, b more pressure' applied to one of said CA shift keys. Inthe latter position, the .key bars will engage a different set ofintermediate bars; and in any one of the threepositions, carriage 50 51will be held secure. This is clearly shown in Fig. 2.

Attention has been called to the fact that of key bars which correspondto the keys labeled Z, X, C, V, B, N; M, Comma, and &, with other shiftcharacters.

sub-carriage 51 containing said keys, may be shoved in'so that the keyswill occupy a space within the area of frame 10. When this movement iseffected. guides 44 on key bars 44y engage the hooked ends of therelated intermediate bars 42, and are thus held secure. At this point wemay call attention to iin 61, shown' only in Fig. 5. This tin is slottedto receive and guide intermediate bars 42, and lalso key bars 43. Bymeans of studs 52 properlylocated with reference to fin 61, thekeyf'barsare prevented from moving when carriage 50 is not in one of itsthree positions to secure proper contact between the key bars andintermediate bars.v

causing the machine to take a let-ter space as y hereinbcfore described.Vhen it is desired to place the machine away in its case, the space barmay be shoved in over frame 10 in a manner similar to that described forcarriage 5l.

Vhen 1t is de? sired to lplace the machine away in its case,

The characters are impressed on the paper or other writing surface, bymeans, of an inked ribbon commonly used on typewriters in general. Theribbon arrangement is shown clearl in Figs. l1 Vand 3. Spools 64,carrying ribbon 65, rotate freely on shafts 66 unless thumb nut 66 istightened down against the spool, in which case that spool will besecured to its shaft. The' ribbon passes over plate guidev 67 throughits guards, as shown. This guide is swung by lhinges 67' to T bar' 68,the center arm of which fits and slides in ways 69 of frame 10. Hingedtothe ends of each side arm of T bar ,68, are bars 70, each containing arack'A of ratchet teeth which engage ratchet wheels 71 attachedto'spool` Shafts 66, as shown in Fig. 3. Ratchet wheel 7 lis preventedfrom turning in a reverse direction by pawl 72, as shown. l Bar 70 isheld up to ratchet wheel 71 by springs 70. It will be seen, that if Tbar 68 is caused to undergo the reciprocating motion described, bars 70will also undergo a reciprocating motion, `and that this motion willcause ratchet Wheels 71, with shafts 66,

, to rotate. If one of the ribbon carrying spools A writers.

is held fast to its shaft by the thumb nut prov'ided,`while the otherspool is allowed to play freely on its shaft, ribbon i'v-ill be woundVon the spool held secureand i'inwound from the one which is loose. Thistight and loose spool,l feature is Vnot new, for it is to be found onother machines including type- Ribbon guide late 67 is held fiat againstthe writing sur ace by means of slide 75, Fig. 4, which is secured to` Tbar 68 by screw 76 through slot 77. Slide 7 5 has a grooved boss 78which engages the end of bar 73, which bar swings near its center onlscribed, bar 74 is caused to undergo a reciprocatino' motion' in turntransmitting an D l-n ru r oscillatory motion to bar m on Journal This-in turn transmits, through gi'ooved slide 7 5 reciprocating motion' toT bar 68 lforcing it in and out under the striking type,

whose action it will be recalled, is also controlled by arm 22. Bothactions are syn- 1chronoiis with the movement 'of a pressed rey.

By referring to Fig. 1, itwill be seen that wlieu carriage 51 is slidin, that it lifts the end of bar 74 until arm 22 is disengaged, and thenshoves said bar until bar 73 is turned on its axis to the position shownby the dotted lines. This movement is the same as that described for.the ribbon shift except that it is of greater magnitude, and the forceis suiiicient to cause a movement of slide on T bar 68, when the T barhas reached its limit of movement defined by ways 69 of frame 10. Asslide 75 movcsfalong T bar 68, that portion resting upon ribbon guide 67at- 75', is iemovcd from contactfwith the ribbon guide, which now'tendsto hinge upward because of ribbon tension. As a vfurther aid to thisswinging movement of guide 67, link 76, attached to slide 5 and to guide67, becomes taut. lVhcn' the movement is complete, guide .75 stands i-nthe position of a plane perpendicular to that of tlie lower surface offrame 10. This is shown by dotted lines. lVith parts thus folded in, and

with margin rule 12 removed as herenbefore described, the machinev maynow be placed in a small box or carrying case. It is ievidentvthatit-inay be unfolded again bysimply pulling out the 4parts .which werefolded in.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim as new, and desii'e to secure byV Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination in a typewriter, hav- A ing a movable body portionprovided with a writing mechanism, of a guide rule having a rack ofteeth exposed on its upper surf-ace, its lower surface making frictionalcontact with the writing surface, saidrule providing a completesupporting track for the movable body'portion, said body portion havingways to receive said guide rule, a

' pinion to receive said rack, a shaft carrying said pinion andsupported in saidbody portion, substantially as described.

2. The combination in a typewriter, hav ing a movable body portion of aguide rule having arackof teeth, the movable body portion having ways toreceive said guide rule and a pinion to receive said rack, said pinionbeing secured or Ajournaled to a shaft and having secured thereto and tosaid body portion a spring, said spring being the means of transmittingenergy to rotate said pin'ion. to l propel said body portion across thewriting Surface in the direction of the writing, substantially asdescribed.

3. The combinatiomin a typewriter of the characterdescribed',A of aguide rule having perpindicular ways, a ratchet pinion secured thereto,the guide rule also having a slot and a dog fitted therein, with amargin rule, held in alignment by said perpendicular -ways, and having arack to receive said pinion and said dog.

lol)

4. The combination, ina typewriter vof the character described, of avmargin rule with a strip or plate hinged thereto and facing against thelower surface of said-margin rule, said strip being held in placeagainst a sheet of paper by the weight offsaid margin .l the characterdescribe of a guide rule havable dog commumcatin rule resting on saldsheetl of paper.

5. The combination, in a typewriter of the character described,`of aguide rule having perpendicular ways, a margin rule communicating withand h eld in alignment by said ways, with a body portion having itslower contact surface provided with ways communicating with said guiderule, said ,body portion having a recess to receive said margm rule, inthefmanner described.

6. The combination in a typewriter of ing per ndicular ways, a ratchetpinion secured t creto, with amar rule held in alignment by saidperpendicular ways, and

- having a rack to receive said ratchet pinion,

and .with a -body portion having an adjustwith said ratchet pinion,` inthe manner escribed.

7. In a device' of the character described,

' a number of straight type bars, each terminating' in a pinion, acircular shaft, on which the straight type bars are hinged, a number ofbent type bars provided with cogs shaped so as to clear thecircular-shaft hinging said straight'type bars, a' second circular shafton which lthe bent type bars arehinged,

the two circular shafts being placedparallel their free ends to a commonstriking point,

as shown.

8. In a device of the character described, abody portion having mountedthereon, a movable bar, a shaft, a ratchet wheel secured to the shaft,said shaft carrying also a' pinion, a spring secured to saidfshaft andto said body portion, a ratchet arm .and a ratchet to control themovement of said ratchet wheel, and operated by said movable bar, alshiftable ribbon guide, linked bars connecting said ribbon guide andsaid ratchet arm, a shift key operatively connected to said movable bar,

in said shift key. i

In testimony whereof I aix m signature.

JOHN B. UNDE WOOD.

Aand a means of folding

